Within/Without

Abstract

Within/Without is an invitation to engage with the emotions we face living within a world of uncertainty, without concrete solutions. It is a physical manifestation of my own emotional entanglements in trying to imagine ways out of climate chaos. I am questioning how we can create space for consciously cultivated hope and understanding within a present where history is being written by each and every one of us. I received 600 pounds of ghost net from Ocean Voyages Institute—just a “tiny” portion of an 80,000-pound haul of fossil fuel derived plastic waste from the Pacific Gyre. I view this “gift of garbage” as a bold metaphor for the micro and macro challenges we face as inhabitants of Earth. The installation offers abstractions of clichéd iconography, through a Pepper’s Ghost illusion in which a sheet of glass is used as an optical beam splitter to superimpose one scene upon another. Neon, light, and mirrors create further illusions within the space. The neon flashes SOS as its electrical charge evokes capitalism’s rapacity to consume, while the use of glass alludes to our ecological fragility.